Wirebound box or crate and method of manufacture thereof



April 10, 1934. w, F, NEWHOUSE 1,954,021

WIREBOUND BOX OR CRATE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE THEREOF Ww' 'm1/W"r 5j @idw IMS April.v10, 1934. w, F. NEwHousE WIREBOUND BOX OR CRATE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE THEREOF' 2 sheets-sheet 2 Filed Jan. 3l, 1931 Patented Apr. 10, 1934 UNTED STATES PATENT FFICE WIREBOUND BOX OR CRATE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE THEREOF This invention relates to metal bound boxes, such as ordinary wire-bound boxes.

One object of the invention is to avoid the use of binding wires over the cleats of the wirebound box, so that no binding wires are secured to the cleats, but whereby other binding wires are located practically as close as possible to the inner sides of the cleats, on the outside of the box, and stapled in place to the sheets or side Walls of the box, whereby these wires are close enough to the cleats to maintain the ends thereof in proper engagement with each other, while at the same time these wires are far enough back from the ends of the box to prevent them from slipping off over the corners of the box.

Another object is to provide a wire-bound box having a reinforcing strip or batten, as a length of wire, secured by staples to the sheets and cleats, but with each wire or other batteri ter- V minating short of the ends of the cleat to which it is secured, whereby these are not binding wires, as they do not circumscribe the box when filled, but are in the nature of battens that co-operate with the staples to iirmly secure the sheets or box sides to the cleats.

,30 To the foregoing and other useful ends, the

invention consists in the matters hereinafter set forth and claimed, and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Fig. l is a plan view of a wire-bound box blank embodying the principles of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation or edge View of the said blank.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary View of a portion of said blank. Fig. 4 is a side elevation or edge view of the blank section shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings.

Fig. 5 is a perspective of said wire-bound box blank in folded condition, in box form, with the heads inserted in the ends of the box, and with the ends of the binding wires twisted together. Fig. 6 is a detail or fragmentary sectional view, on a larger scale, of a portion of the box blank.

Fig. 7 is a transverse section of the box blank, as shown in Fig. 1, on a larger scale.

As thus illustrated, the invention comprises the sheets or box sides l, 2, 3 and 4, of wood' veneer or other sheet material, secured to the cleats 5 by the staples 6, as shown. These cleats are preferably formed with tongue and groovev engaging portions at their ends, so that they will interlock when the blank is folded into box form. Battens in the form of wires 7, are secured to the cleats by the said staples 6, thereby to cooperate with said staples in firmly securing the sheets to the cleats. These battens 7 may be 6@ of any suitable character, but, as a matter of special improvement, they are preferably made of wire, with the ends 8 of the wire inserted through the sheets and into the cleats, whereby these wire battens are in the nature of wide staples inserted with their heads extending longitudinally of the cleats. The staples 6 straddle the wire battens 7, in any suitable or desired manner, and co-operate with these battensrto firmly secure the sheets to the cleats.

The binding wires 9, 10 and 11 are secured to the sheets by staples 12 that are clinched on the Under sides of the sheets. It will be observed that the wires 9 and 11 are arranged practically as close as possible to the inner sides 13 of the cleats 5, as shown more clearly in Figs. 6 and 7 of the drawings, whereby the staples 12 are close to the inner edges of the cleats. In this way, the wires 9 and 11 are close enough to the cleats to maintain the ends of the cleats in proper engagement with each other, and close enough to co-operate with the staples 6 and the battens 7 in maintaining the attachment of the sheets to the cleats, and for some classes of boxes and for some purposes it is better to have these wires as close as possible to the cleats, instead of having them some distance from the cleats. At the same time, by placing the wires 9 and 1l in position immediately inside of the inner sides of the cleats, these wires are still far enough from the heads or ends of the box to prevent the wires from slipping on over the corners of the box, when the boxes are filled and afterwards handled more or less roughly in shipment. Should these wires 9 and 11, for example, be stapled over the cleats, in the ordinary manner, they would be liable to slip oif over the corners of the box, as they could not be secured in place at such corners, it being impracticable to drive staples close to the ends of the cleats, inasmuch 100 as such staples must be kept a distance from the cleat ends, in order to prevent driving of the staples into the tongues and grooves of the cleats. But with the wires 9 and 11 stapled only to the sheets, it is obvious that staples for these wires can be driven quite close to the edges of the sheets, thereby leaving no loose binding wire portions that would be liable to slip off over the ends of the box during rough handling in ship- 110 ment. In this connection, of course, it may be observed that the wires 7, which are secured to the cleats, are not binding wires, inasmuch as they do not circumscribe the box, and do not function as an encircling binding for the box. Therefore, with the construction shown and described, all binding wires for the box are located between the two rows of cleats, and no binding wires are secured to the cleats.

After the box is filled and closed, as shown in Fig. 5, the ends of the binding wires are twisted together at 14, thereby pulling the wires up tight, wherebyr these wires sustain the bursting and other strains imposed on the box and strengthen the box in the desired manner, and, as shown and described, the wires 9 and l1 are preferably as close to the cleats as is possible to have them without causing the staples 12 to engage the cleats, for the points of these staples are preferably clinched on the under side of the sheet material.

It will be seen that the staples over the wire battens can be arranged obliquely, instead of exactly crosswise of these wire battens, whereby these staples will, to a certain extent, straddle the grain of the wood of the veneer sheets. Also, it will be seen that by thus arranging the adjacent binding wires more or less inside of the cleats, instead of stapling these wires directly to the cleats, these binding wires will not cut into the tenons or joints between the ends of the cleats, during rough handling or usage of the box, such as dropping and tumbling around of thevbox. In this way, the joints or tenons between the cleats are less liable to split, as the adjacent binding wires are not in a position to cut in and split the ends of the cleats.

By placing the wires 9 and 11 close to the cleats, even extreme tension of the wires when they are tightened will not be liable to bend the sheets inwardly, causing them to fulcrum on the inner edges of the cleats, which would have a tendency to loosen the sheets on the cleats. In other words, it is undesirable to have the sheets Ifulcrum on the outer edges of the cleats, or on the inner edges, as either action tends to loosen the sheets on the cleats.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A method of construction for a wire-bound box having sheets and cleats, the cleats fastened thereto being formed to engage each other at their ends, without any binding wires being fastened to the cleats, comprising the attachment of binding wires encircling the box by staples at points immediately inside of the inner edges of the cleats, practically as close to the cleats as is possible without having the staples enter the cleats, so that tightening of the binding wires will not bend the sheets inwardly, the staples being clinched at their points to securely hold the wires in place, whereby these wires are close enough to the cleats to maintain the ends of the cleats in engagement with each other, and to reduce the bursting strain on the sheets away from the cleats to a minimum,

while at the same time these wires are far enough from the ends of the box to prevent them from slipping over the corners of the box, and staples attaching the sheets to the cleats,

2. A method as specied in claim 1, said staples being clinched on the under side of the sheet material practically as close as possible to the inner sides of the cleats.

3. A method as specied in claim 1, said wires having staples close to the meeting edges of the sheets, thereby to assist in preventing the wires from slipping off over the corners of the box.

4. A method as specified in claim 1, the cleats in each row being unconnected between their ends except through the medium of said wires.

5. A method as specified in claim 1, said attaching means comprising battens extending parallel with said wires.

6. In a wirebound box or crate, the combination of solid one-piece cleats for the heads or ends of the box, said cleats being formed to engage each other at their ends, sheet material forming the side walls of the box, successive sections of wire means stapled to and extending parallel with the cleats to secure the sheet material thereto, binding wires encircling the box continuously between their ends, and staples securing said binding wires to the sheet material only, the ends of said wires being interconnected, whereby the wires tightly encircle the ultimate box, said binding wires being disposed a distance back from the heads or ends of the box, the staples over said wires being inserted as close as possible to said cleats, without entering the cleats, and from said cleat staples, whereby all binding wires of the box or crate are disposed between the cleats at one end of the box and the cleats at the other end oi the box or crate, but with a binding wire at each end of the box close enough to the cleat staples to practically prevent any bursting strain thereon and to maintain the engagement at the ends of the cleats with each other, thereby obviating the necessity of stapling any binding wires to said cleats.

7. A method as specified in claim l, said attaching means comprising successive battens extending parallel with said wires, each batten comprising a length of wire secured by straddling staples, inserted through the sheet material into the cleat.

8. A method as speciiied in claim 1, said attaching means comprising successive battens extending parallel with said wires, each batten comprising a length of wire secured by straddling staples inserted through the sheet material into the cleat, each length of wire being inserted at its ends through the sheet material and into the cleat, whereby each length of wire is in effect a wide staple having the legs thereof inserted substantially or practically as close as possible to the ends of the cleat.

9. A method of construction for a wire-bound box having sheets and cleats, staples attaching binding wires to the box, and staples attaching the sheets to the cleats by means comprising a separate length of wire for each cleat, extending parallel with the sides thereof, under the heads of said staples, with the ends of each length of Wire terminating short of the ends of the cleat forming parallel rows of battens on the extension of the box.

10. A method as specified in claim 9, each length of wire having its ends inserted through the sheet material and into the cleat, whereby each length of wire is in effect a wide staple.

11. A method of construction as specied in claim 9, having two of said binding wires secured to the sheets close to the inner sides of the cleats, said cleats being unconnected at their ends except through the medium of said adjacent binding wires.

12. A method of construction for a wirebound box having exibly connected sections and reinforcing cleats, comprising wire means extending parallel with each cleat to fasten the sheets thereto, and binding wires attached by staples to the sheets, parallel with the cleats, practically as close to the cleats as is possible without having the staples enter the cleats, so that tightening of the binding wires will not bend the sheets inwardly, the staples being clinched on the under side of the sheets, practically as close as possible to the cleats, whereby the staples are driven in a manner to prevent the attachment of any binding wires to the cleats.

13. A method of construction as specified in claim 12, comprising separate lengths of wire fastened to the sheets and cleats by said last mentioned staples.

14. A method of construction for a wirebound box having iiexibly connected sheets and reinforcing cleats, comprising separate unconnected lengths of wire stapled to the sheets and cleats, to fasten the sheets to the cleats, with the ends of said length of wire spaced apart, forming parallel rows of battens on the exterior of the box, and binding wires stapled to the sheets only, preventing the attachment of any binding wires to the cleats, and the last mentioned staples being clinched on the under sides of the sheets.

15. A method of construction as specied in claim 14, comprising the bent ends of the separate lengths of wire, with these ends inserted through the sheets into the cleats.

16. In a wirebound box or crate, the combination of solid one-piece cleats for the heads or ends of the box, said cleats being formed to engage each other at their ends, sheet material forming the side walls of the box, wire means extending parallel with the cleats to secure the sheet material thereto, binding wires encircling the box continuously between their ends, and staples securing said binding wires to the sheet material only, the ends of said wires being interconnected, whereby the wires tightly encircle the ultimate box, said binding wires being disposed a distance back from the heads or ends of the box, the staples over said wires being inserted as close as possible to said cleats, without entering the cleats, and from said cleat staples, whereby all binding wires of the box or crate are disposed between the cleats at one end of the box and the cleats at the other end of the box or crate, but with a binding wire at each end of the box close enough to the cleat staples to practically prevent any bursting strain thereon and to maintain the engagement at the ends of the cleats with each other, thereby obviating the necessity of stapling any binding wires to said cleats.

17. In a wirebound box or crate blank, the combination of sheet material forming side walls, solid one-piece cleats secured to the under side of said sheet material along the side edges of the blank, by successive sections of wire means stapled to and extending parallel with the cleats, and a plurality of parallel binding wires stapled to the upper or outer surface of the blank, provided with ends which can be interconnected on the ultimate box or crate, each and every binding wire of the blank being disposed at a point between the two parallel rows of cleats, with two of said binding wires spaced a distance from the cleats but as close as possible thereto Without having their staples enter the cleats, whereby the blank has two lines of cleat staples spaced a distance from two lines of binding wire staples, thereby to practically prevent any bursting strain on said cleat staples.

WALTER F. NEWHOUSE. 

